India has freedom of choice, no country has veto on ties

Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India for a bilateral summit this week reflected India’s freedom of choice and policy of strategic autonomy, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Saturday against the backdrop of pressure from the US to reduce purchases of Russian oil and military hardware.

- HT Correspondent

The summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Putin resulted in a five-year economic programme to diversify and balance trade, a mobility agreement and measures to deepen the energy partnership. Jaishankar, speaking at the 23rd Hindustan Times Leadership Summit, said that India-Russia ties have been among the steadiest big power relationships ina world that has seen a lot of ups and downs in the past eight decades.

Asked if Putin's visit complicated dealings with the US, Jaishankar said India has relations with all major countries and it isn'treasonable for any country to “expect to have a veto” on how New Delhi develops its relationships. “I think we've always made it very clear that we have multiple relationships. We havea freedom of choice. We talk about what is called strategic autonomy and that continues and I cannot imagine why anybody would have reason to expect the contrary,” he said.

Jaishankar, who began his conversation with a quip about following the session featuring British star Hugh Grant while pointing out that foreign policy is currently more exciting than any movie, said Putin's visit focused on “reimagining” the India-Russia relationship because economic ties hadn't kept pace with defence and strategic collaboration.

“They [Russia] visualised the West and China as their primary economic partners. We visualised perhaps the same. The economic side of the relationship had somehow not kept pace. This visit, in many ways, was about reimagining the relationship,” he said, while pointing to overwhelming popular support for relations with Moscow.

“Itwas about building dimensions and facets which it lacked or didn't have in enough measure,” Jaishankar said, listing a mobility agreement that will allow Indians to find work opportunities in Russia, and an agreement for ajoint venture in fertilisers, as among the key outcomes of the summit.